srq34231

I have a 2003 F150. The one time I took it to Ford, it came back with the little Ford emblem on the airbag dented. I pointed it out, but they claimed it was that way when it arrived. So.....


A couple of months later my tapped my horn and it stayed on. The fuses and relays all seem fine, so the only solution was to unplug the harness from the horn. Unfortunately, that also seems to kill the cruise control. Or, it is possible that the cruise when out when the horn stuck, but I can't tell because I don't want to drive down the road with the horn blaring.


I have read a bunch of posts on horns. Some point to the clock spring and some point to the contact mechanism within the airbag. Since my emblem, clearly go hit hard by an angry tech at Ford, the airbag seems likely.


So my question - is there any way to diagnose (before I pull is apart and replace one part of another) whether it is the clock spring or the airbag horn contact?


Sorry so longwinded, but figured more detail is better than less. Thanks for any help.

srq34231

Going with clockspring. For whatever reason, the only way I could get the horn to stop was to pull the harness from the horn. Tried again this eve to pull fuse and connect the harness....horn stayed off. Drove and tried cruise and it was still broken.

akdoggie

I've read and reread your comments and am still confused on the second one. You said you pulled the harness from the horn, and reattached it and it didn't work? Is that right? You also said it was honking before, so what did you do differently that kept it from rehonking when you hooked it up? It should still work if it worked before. Did you pull something else? Leave out the fuse? I just can't visualize why it's not working. Is yours a little metal Ford emblem on your air bag? Mine is a plastic emblem. Just trying to figure out how it was dented? Has your truck been fixed for the cruise control recall that Ford has/had for these trucks? It could be as simple as a defective part. I'm not inclinded to go with the c/spring. They rarely break, and then usually only when someone has been inside the steering wheel.

srq34231

I have had the truck since new, but never got a recall notice on the cruise control. I had the truck in to Ford only once. It was to replace a bad ac controller. The metal emblem was perfect when I took it in and came back dented in the middle. I can't guess why, but someone whacked it. A month or two later the horn started beeping nonstop. I pulled the harness from the horn to shut it up. I checked the horn relay and it was fine. At about the same time, I noticed that cruise was broken. Some posts say the contact inside the airbag is a common problem. Others say the clockspring is more common. I can change the clockspring cheaper than a new (or ebay) airbag (hopefully with a good horn contact), so decided to change it first. I have it all apart, but can't get the old clockspring off. All the youtube video seem to skip that step or just slide it off. Another long post.....basically, decided to just start replacing things instead of taking it back to Ford.

akdoggie

I just read where the 2003\4(H) wasn't in the recall. It fit all the other Gen 10 years, with the 2003/4 exceptions. I didn't realize that. Below is the recall.` I get what you were describing now. Why didn't you pull the horn wires at the horn? I certainly wouldn't of pulled any wires out of the column harness. Just me of course, but I like simplicity. lol.

I'm going to bet that when they did the A/C on your truck, they had to drop the column down and probably pulled the wheel to get some room to work. One of the mechanics in my old shop used to do that when he had to work under the dash if he was doing those kinds of repairs. He said it saved him time. I'm thinking that maybe the mechanic did this to get under to the A/C. I don't know why i didn't think of that earlier.

If that was so, and he turned the c/s, it is possible to screw up the inside of the c/s. I ran into that in a old Crown Vic that had a similar problem. Good luck with your project.

http://trucks.about.com/od/carsafety/a/ford_cruise.htm

srq34231

The clockspring was cheaper than an airbag, so I started with that. All simple enough except the wiring harness if your hands are bigger than a 7 year old. 15 mins to pull parts, 45 mins to unclip the harness, 20 mins to get harness reconnected, 10 mins to assemble. So far, so good. Horn and cruise work and no new problems.